The Power of One

The power of one is pretty amazing.  Try throwing a rock in the water and watch the ever-widening ripples that it creates.  That’s the power of one!   How do you use your "super power?"

Each one of us possesses the power of one.  It’s the ability to turn someone’s day around, even in ways we may never realize or imagine.   While grand gestures are fabulous, quite honestly, it’s the little things in life that often make the biggest difference.

So how do you utilize your power of one? What are some ways that you can use it?  Here’s just a few options:

Kindness

Sprinkling acts of kindness everywhere you go in just one day can affect dozens of people.  It can turn their mood around, bring a smile to their face, and even make them believe in the power of one and start their own rippling effects.

So, what kinds of act of kindness can do this?  As I mentioned above, it often doesn’t take much.  A smile at a stranger who perhaps is feeling particularly alone can make them feel noticed.  Paying for someone’s coffee in line behind you is always a nice surprise and treat when it happens.  Even holding the door for a string of people filtering into the same store you are going into can be enough to instill feelings of caring in others.

Listening

This can be huge.  Oftentimes we feel the most hurt when we feel that we have not been heard.  Taking the time to truly close out all other distractions and listen to someone else can make all the difference in the world to them.

Tied to that, having empathy for their situation goes a long way as well.  It goes beyond listening to understanding their concerns and puts you in their shoes.   When you’ve achieved this level of listening, you’ve done your friend (or even stranger) a huge service.  Listening is one of the most powerful tools we have in our tool belt.

Happiness

Simply being happy can be powerful to those around us as well.  Happiness, like kindness, is contagious.  Don’t believe me?  Try smiling at someone and you will find you will get a smile automatically back.

Genuine happiness and expressing it around your environment leaves others looking around to see what you are so happy about.  And when we look around for something, we are much more likely to find it.  So, if you are happy, show it and share it.  Someone will pick up on the ripple you are creating!

Power of One Stories

Do you have your own power of one stories?  I would love to hear them!   What did you do that made someone else’s day?  Or caused a ripple effect?